LYNCHBURG, Va.— The Montreat men's track & field team traveled to Virginia for the Liberty Open on Saturday, competing across 10 different events in the process. Out of the several participants at the meet, the Cavaliers hit three national standards, broke a school record, set seven personal records and debuted in a pair of events.
 
Dylan Branch set the tone for the Cavs in the mile race, where he ran his fastest indoor mile and the school's quickest time to capture fifth place. His time of 4:14.38 not only guaranteed a top-5 placement of 124 runners, but also hit the national "A" standard in the event. Freshman Philip Riddle tallied a personal-best in the race (44^th; 4:35.96).
 
Caleb Wright led a group of six Cavaliers in the 3000m event, where the Chatham, Va. native hit the team's other standard on the track. Clocking an NAIA "B" standard time of 8:33.17, Wright claimed sixth position of 63 athletes en route to a personal best. Riddle (25^th; 9:09.05) and Landen Williams (35^th; 9:29.45) also ran their quickest collegiate 3k races, while Nathan Stamey notched a top-15 time (13^th; 8:51.69).
 
Montreat's third and final standard of the meet came in the long jump, where Dustin Blevins hit the NAIA's "A" standard. The King, N.C. native leapt to 7.19m, second-best of 64 participants in the event. Meanwhile, Lamont McNeill Jr. placed 15^th with an effort of 6.46m.
 
A handful of other Cavaliers garnered top-15 results across five events. In the 5000m, Rene Tamez ran to 14^th of 50 athletes thanks to his time of 15:50.32. Davis Nicol debuted in the 500m run with a time of 1:13.10, good enough for 11^th of 20 runners. In the 800m race, Branch grabbed 11^th position out of 110 participants as he crossed in 1:57.98.
 
In the field, Gregory Curry II landed 14^th of 28 jumpers in the high jump as he cleared 1.80m. A trio of Cavs notched top-15 placements out of 22 athletes in the pole vault with Edward McClellan (12^th) and Nicol (13^th) both vaulting over 3.75m and Caleb Wells (15^th) clearing 3.45m.
 
For full results from the Liberty Open, click here.
 
Men's track & field returns to action on Thursday when the Cavaliers participate in the JDL Team Challenge in Winston-Salem, N.C.